Rosecrance tries to calm neighbors on North Main in Rockford

ROCKFORD — Rosecrance Health Network is trying to quell concerns among North Main Street neighbors and businesses regarding the planned move of its mental health services facility to a vacant supermarket.

ROCKFORD — Rosecrance Health Network is trying to quell concerns among North Main Street neighbors and businesses regarding the planned move of its mental health services facility to a vacant supermarket.

The agency plans to spend more than $3 million to buy and remodel the former Sun View Market, 2704 N. Main St. Services like case management, psychiatry and after-hours care offered at the downtown Ware Center, 526 W. State St., would move to the space.

Rosecrance officials have heard concerns about the move since announcing their intentions last week. They met Friday with neighbors, including representatives from Spectrum Progressive School and Circles of Learning, to answer questions about the project.

Spectrum Executive Director Chris Klekamp said the meeting was positive and productive. School officials’ three main concerns are loitering, the potential loss of revenue to businesses if people opt to not patronize the area because of the facility, and Rosecrance clients being displaced from downtown to North Main.

“We’re very supportive of Rosecrance,” Klekamp said. “We think they are excellent for our community, they do high-quality work and our community needs them, desperately. ... Most of our questions, if not answered, we felt like Rosecrance heard us and will look into them.”

Rosecrance plans to have a waiting room inside the facility and will have security to make sure loitering isn’t a problem, said Judy Emerson, Rosecrance’s director of communications. The agency also plans to invest in extensive landscaping.

The Ware Center will remain an outpatient facility after the move. A medical office is an allowable use of the former grocery’s commercial zoning designation.

There’s also a bus stop at the property, and officials want to make sure it’s in the best spot possible for neighbors and patients. Emerson said Rosecrance staffers also pick up patients for treatment, and many patients are driven to the Ware Center by parents, friends or family members.

Not all the feedback Klekamp has heard from Spectrum parents has been negative.

“We’re concerned because people do have misconceptions about mental health,” she said. “I am actually not nervous that someone going there would run across the street and enter the school or the day care. People there are seeking help. I don’t know if families won’t feel that way. Second only to educational philosophy is safety.”

The Rosecrance campus on Harrison Avenue is next to Hillman Elementary School, and Principal Carolyn Kloss said the agency is a great neighbor. The school and Rosecrance serve as each other’s emergency evacuation locations.

“The landscaping is gorgeous, the lighting is fantastic, they have security and people in the building around the clock, and that’s also good for Hillman,” Kloss said. “We never see loitering. It’s residential by us, so people are playing sports outside, and it’s not an issue at all.”

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Ald. John Beck, R-12, said his initial reaction to the project wasn’t positive. The former grocery is in his ward. But after speaking with Rosecrance CEO Phil Eaton, Beck is pretty comfortable with it.

“It’s going to be a plus for the business district,” Beck said. “I know that some businesses are concerned. I’m keeping an open mind to it, and I’ve been in contact with them, and they’re letting me know what concerns still exist.”

Jerry Paris thinks the project will benefit the North Main corridor. He has owned the Midas at 3012 N. Main St. for 38 years and been a Rosecrance board member for 22 years.

“Groups will begin to see that we treat people, and treated people are less of a threat to themselves and far less a threat to society,” he said.

Winnebago County is moving out of the downtown Public Safety Building and may move the county coroner’s office to the Ware Center, which it plans to purchase.